Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song
- Subject
- Biography & Autobiography - Performing Arts
- Age
- 6-8 years
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 48
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
- Size
- 20.6 cm Ă 28.7 cm
- ISBN
- 9780374303013
An inspiring picture-book biography of iconic singer and activist Miriam Makeba by National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine.
Miriam Makeba, a Grammy Awardâwinning South African singer, rose to fame in the hearts of her people at the pinnacle of apartheidâa brutal system of segregation similar to American Jim Crow laws. Mama Africa, as they called her, raised her voice to help combat these injustices at jazz clubs in Johannesburg; in exile, at a rally beside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and before the United Nations.
Set defiantly in the present tense, this biography offers readers an intimate view of Makebaâs fight for equality. Kathryn Erskineâs call-and-response style text and Charly Palmerâs bold illustrations come together in a raw, riveting duet of protest song and praise poem. A testament to how a single voice helped to shake up the worldâand can continue to do so.
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What reviewers said
Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award Winner
Children's Africana Book Awards Committee: 2018 Best Book for Young Children
One of Kirkus's Best Books of 2017!
"An excellent perspective from which American readers can learn about apartheid and one of the pioneers who fought it through her art."
"Erskineâs prose style is expressionistic, with lyrical sentences that alight on significant events...Potent quotes and song lyrics keep the intensity high, as does the clever use of words in a fierce red, often repeated to begin the subsequent page, lending the text a driving propulsion."
"Debut illustrator Palmerâs painterly spreads shine in rich colors and bold brushstrokes, capturing the passion of Makeba mid-song... A welcome addition to picture book biography collections." âSchool Library Journal
